1. Technical Field
This application claims foreign priority under 35 USC 119 based on Japanese Patent Application 2004-243049, filed Aug. 24, 2004, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. This priority claim is being made concurrently with the filing of this application.
The present invention relates to a foot depressing parking brake apparatus provided mainly in an automobile.
2. Related Art
In a background art, there is known a foot depressing parking brake apparatus having a brake pedal of a foot depressing type, bringing about a brake operating state by depressing the brake pedal and maintaining a state of locking the brake pedal by a ratchet mechanism.
For example, there is proposed a foot depressing parking brake apparatus having a constitution of attaching a ratchet plate to a pedal main body of a foot depressing parking brake pivoted centering on a fulcrum by being operated to depress by the foot, bringing teeth of a ratchet pole rotatably attached to a pivot pin in mesh with the ratchet plate, forming a shaft hole of the ratchet pole inserted with the pivot pin by a long hole and provided with a toggle spring for exerting a turning force to the ratchet pole (refer to, for example, Patent Reference 1). According to the foot depressing parking brake apparatus described in Patent Reference 1, the ratchet pole is slid along the long hole by the turning force and a depressing force operated to the pedal main body and a braking operation and a brake releasing operation can be carried out alternately by depressing the pedal main body.
[Patent Reference 1]
JP-A-2003-237552